Sizing Up Shaq

Shaquille O'neal Is The Biggest Thing To Hit Town Since . . . Well, Ever. Staff Writer Harvey Fialkov And Staff Researcher William Lucey Take A Lighthearted Look At South Florida's Most Famous Newcomer.

Blame great grandfather Hilton O'Neal or grandpa Johnny, who were both 6-foot-9, but one can't truly appreciate the sheer massiveness of Shaquille O'Neal until standing next to him.

Shaquille means "little" in Arabic, but it has nothing to do with this mammoth human being, who was 6-4 at age 11 and 6-11 as a sophomore at Cole High School in San Antonio.

That's where Shaq learned to be tough after his schoolmates taunted him by calling him Sasquatch, Tall Bunyan or Shaquilla Gorilla.

His stepfather, Phil Harrison, was an Army drill sergeant who disciplined him using tough love that included smacks to the face and punches to the chest until he was about 13, according to O'Neal's autobiography Shaq Talks Back.

Now 7-1 and anywhere from 340 to 370 pounds, Shaq has never encountered a hotel showerhead high enough for him to stand under.

His pants have an outside seam of 54 1/2 inches, and Lakers equipment manager Rudy Gar-ciduenas used two arms to carry Shaq's size 22 sneakers into the locker room. His wingspan is 90 inches. He has a 20-inch neck.

"People used to say that I was big, but this man is 80 pounds heavier than I was, and he is packed with muscle," said Hall of Fame 6-11 center Bob Lanier, whose playing weight was listed at 260. "If I was playing him, I'd keep him pretty busy. Nah, I couldn't do it. This man is just a nightmare."

It's no wonder Shaq has the Superman emblem tattooed on his bulging left bicep with the words Man of Steel.

Other than the occasional cigar or glass of wine, Shaq doesn't drink or smoke. He works out at Gold's Gym or at his team's training facility and credits his personal chef Thomas Gosney for maintaining his healthy nutritional regimen.

Last year, O'Neal hired Corey Gilday, a Vancouver health club personal trainer, to round him into shape.

Using a combination of conditioning, running, strength training and jujitsu for three hours a day in the offseason, Gilday helped O'Neal shed 35 pounds and lower his body fat by at least 3 percent. Shaq can press more than 1,000 pounds with his legs.

"He laid out a program, and I just did it," O'Neal said. "I never really believed in weights and all that stuff, but as I get older, I have to go against the young Jermaine O'Neals. So I had to do something different."

Clang, clang, clang goes the diesel (from the line)

Following in the giant footsteps of Wilt Chamberlain, another Laker goliath, O'Neal has endured a careerlong struggle at the foul line. He averaged 49 percent from the foul line this season and an ugly 42.9 percent (109 of 254) in the playoffs.

Chamberlain, who even tried Rick Barry's underhanded technique, made just 51.1 percent during his Hall of Fame career and 46.5 percent in the playoffs.

O'Neal told Barry to "kiss his butt," and that he would rather shoot 0 percent than shoot underhanded.

O'Neal, a fan of Superman, calls his free-throw woes his kryptonite, or lone weakness.

"If I played the game I play and shot 88 percent from the line, it would take away from my mental focus, because I would know how good I was and I wouldn't work so hard," O'Neal said.

Nothing has worked even though O'Neal swears he makes 50 in a row in practice.

O'Neal ascribes his career 53.7 percent bricklaying to his deformed right wrist that doesn't bend all the way back ever since he fell out of a tree as a kid.

Others believe his massive hands are too large and it's akin to shooting a tennis ball for mere mortals.

Ironically, it was O'Neal's former Lakers coach Phil Jackson who first employed the oft-used Hack-a-Shaq strategy when he was coaching the Bulls dynasty and found himself trailing the Lakers in the fourth quarter.

The Kobe-Shaq breakup has created more headlines than Ben and J-Lo, but the Heat isn't complaining after getting custody of the Big Aristotle.

For years, Shaq, 32, defended the petulant moods of Kobe Bryant, 25, referring to him as his "big little brother."

Finally, after three championships and eight seasons together, the massive egos of two NBA millionaire superstars were unable to co-exist under the same Staples Center roof.

Once Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak made it obvious that re-signing Kobe was more of a priority than extending Shaq or re-signing coach Phil Jackson, O'Neal forced the blockbuster trade with the Heat.

The feud first heated up before the 1999 season when Kobe and Shaq scuffled during an informal practice because Bryant began believing his teammates should follow the "Jordan Rules" and not touch him in practice.